What I’ve been watching on Netflix – August 2017

I watch an obscene amount of Netflix sometimes, so I thought I’d share what I’ve been loving watching and what I’ve turned off.

Loving:

Atypical

It was a really candid look into the life of what it is like to be on the autistic spectrum and what that means for the family. I was worried when I started the series because I thought at first it was making light of the situation, but the more I watched, the more drawn in I got and it felt like I was a fly on the wall peering into what a difficult life it is for all involved. The actor, Keir Gilchrist, who plays Sam (who is an 18 year old on the autism spectrum) really nails the role. I genuinely believed that he was autistic, he made it so believable and heart wrenching at times. His family played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Michael Raparport, really sold me on what it is like to live with a loved one who is on the autistic spectrum.

I binge watched the entire series in a day, I was so drawn in by the family dynamic and how real it all felt. I really felt for everyone involved and feel like I gained a little insight into that world. It pulled on my heart strings as Sam navigated highs and lows throughout the show. The way his family members cope with the situation made me happy at times and at other times completely furious, but yet I still understood somewhat the reasoning behind their behaviour. It really did make me think and I salute Netflix for bringing this into the public eye in this way. I really hope we get to see another season soon.

Santa Clarita Diet

A hilarious series, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, is just pure ridiculous fun. At times it is a little gory and is quite dark in humour, but it was straight up my alley and I binge watched the entire series back to back. Drew Barrymore is brilliant in the role of Sheila, a real estate agent who finds herself needing to consume human flesh in order to feel satisfied. Her husband, Joel, played by Timothy Olyphant is hysterical as he aids her in this quest. Their daughter, Abby, played by Liv Hewson, finds herself caught up in the middle of her parents weirdness while still trying to hold together the facade that their family is completely normal. I think their neighbour, Eric, (Skyler Gisondo) deserves an honourable mention for his awkwardness and helpfulness as he tries to help the family cope with Sheila’s new lifestyle.

Definitely worth a watch if you don’t take things too seriously and want a good laugh, but don’t mind a little gore.

The Fundamentals of Caring

Paul Rudd, is excellent in his role, playing Ben, a new registered carer. Ben takes a job looking after Trevor, played by Craig Roberts, who has a severe type of muscular dystrophy. I don’t want to say much more about this film because it will ruin it! Although, I will say, I found it thought provoking.. it deals with some hard hitting topics and does it in a light hearted feel good way. It made me laugh and tear up. I want to say more, but it’s one of those films that you have to watch to truly get what it is about.

I just realised that so far my list has been all Netflix originals, they are really hitting the mark with a lot of these.

Hating:

Death Note

I really wanted this to be awesome. I’m talking about the new Netflix original film (not the anime). Just when I said Netflix were hitting the mark with their originals this was released. The trailer didn’t look brilliant, but I was excited anyway, as I enjoyed the anime. I had been waiting and waiting and waiting for it to come out and then when I sat down to watch it, instant disappointment. The acting fell flat and at points bordered on silly. The special effects were amazing though, I will give it that. I think it’s hard to condense such a long series into a film, maybe this would have worked better as a Netflix original series.

I think some of the casting decisions weren’t the best and that made it suffer more too. In places it closely followed the anime and then at other points it felt too rushed, like they were trying to fit all the plot in and finding it difficult. I wonder what someone that hasn’t seen the anime would think of it.

Ryuk, the demon, was amazing and felt very much like the series.. the rest of the acting was just meh. There are no other words to describe it. Definitely give it a miss if you enjoyed the anime, otherwise you’ll be disappointed and even a little salty about it. My fiancé had warned me that it looked bad from the trailer, but I was determined that it was going to be good anyway.. I think I just really wanted it to be something it wasn’t and that is why it’s made my hating it list. Hate is a strong word though.. I just severely dislike it.

Honourable mentions:

I thought I’d put in some other shows/films I’ve watched that I liked too, ones that I didn’t want to rave about, but I enjoyed or found watchable.

Mountain Men (Chace Crawford and Tyler Labine starring side by side.. what’s not to love about that?!)

To The Bone (Not worth the controversy surrounding it in my opinion, I think it would have done better as a series rather than a film. Marti Noxon is an amazing writer.)

Extraordinary The Stan Romanek Story (Interesting watch to see someone who believes so hard that he’s experiencing alien contact)

Prison Break (Yes, I know I’m a million years too late to watch this series.. but I enjoyed it. Heard it’s come back recently too!)

Daredevil (Loved this series, it’s the only Marvel one on Netflix that sucked me in)

The Magnificent Seven (Chris Pratt is in it.. enough said)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Enjoyable, fun series, good for watching if you have young ones)

Black Mirror (Watched some of these with my fiancé and they are very cool.. excited to watch the new episodes that just came out with him soon)